The odd couple

"Brooklyn Nine-Nine" has featured one of TV's most finely tuned assembles since the beginning, but it's still great fun to see the fourth season kick off with the focus solely on Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher as they attempt to get through the witness protection program together without killing each other. Whoever suggested that the former "Homicide" detective and the rascally "SNL" truant would make a sure-fire dynamic duo deserves a gold shield.

7 p.m. KMSP, Ch. 9

Family ties

NBC's commitment to offering at least one hour of TV that's short on violence and long on tears continues with "This Is Us," a multilayered drama from the team behind "Crazy, Stupid, Love," in which families lean on each other through various hardships — and time jumps. The acting is top-notch, especially guest star Gerald McRaney as everyone's dream doctor, but is there enough of a network audience to keep such an effort on the air? "Parenthood" survived — but just barely.

9 p.m. KARE, Ch. 11

A list of their own

Ken Burns takes a slight departure from his usual form of storytelling as an executive producer for "Defying Nazis: The Sharps' War," a 90-minute documentary chronicling the extraordinary efforts made by an American couple to help refugees escape the Holocaust. Tom Hanks reads the letters of the Rev. Waitstill Sharp.

8 p.m. TPT, Ch. 2

McRaney

Neal Justin